Yankees fans… “No Bay, Okay!”
Jason Bay, the newly introduced New York Met has all New Yorkers excited for different reasons. On paper his departure from Boston is a win for both ball clubs, although as it typically turns out for the Met’s, Bay will most likely under perform, have a significant drop in numbers, and or will be injured and forced to retire. Conversely Yankees fans can now breathe a sigh of relief knowing they no longer have to deal with an over-achiever wearing the red pinstripes.
Jason Bay’s departure from the Red Sox to the Mets, benefits which club, the Yankees, Mets or Red Sox the most? Let me know what you think…
My Best All-Time New York Mets By Position
Here are my all-time best New York Mets By Position…
When I picked my team, I only considered their contributions while a member of the Mets. If they played longer for the Mets, I gave them a slight bump in rankings since their impact on the Mets should be greater than someone playing only a couple seasons. As a general note, I started watching the Mets around 1985-86 so my choices will be biased towards Mets who have played in the 80s or later.
My squad contains one player at each position, five starters and a relief pitcher/closer. I listed other people I considered in the running for each position. I also added a link to some of our sports memorabilia by each of my choices..
OK.. Here is my all-time Mets squad.
Catcher – Mike Piazza
Also in the running: Gary Carter, Todd Hundley
1B – Keith Hernandez
Also in the running: Carlos Delgado, John Olerud
2B – Edgardo Alfonso
Also in the running: Jeff Kent, Wally Backman
SS – Jose Reyes (No Mets shortstop was even close)
3B – David Wright (He has only scratched the surface of his potential)
Also in the running: Howard Johnson, Robin Ventura
LF – Kevin McReynolds (This was a tough one.. There was not a clear favorite in my mind)
Also in the running: Cleon Jones, Cliff Floyd
CF – Carlos Beltran
Also in the running: Lenny Dykstra, Tommie Agee, Mookie Wilson, Lee Mazzilli
RF – Darryl Strawberry
Also in the running: Rusty Staub
Starting Pitchers –
1. Tom Seaver (Top 2 were obvious but I am somewhat biased towards players who played after 1986 and probably would have chosen a few older pitchers had I actually seen them pitch a little more)
2. Doc Gooden
3. Johan Santana
4. David Cone
5. Al Leiter
Also in the running: Jerry Koosman, Pedro Martinez, Tom Glavine, Jon Matlack
RELIEF PITCHER – John Franco (Captain and long time Met.. got the benefit of the doubt even though I remember a few rough spots for him in his last year or two. The other ones I listed are dominating pitchers but had less actual time with the Mets than John Franco. I like KROD so far, and can see him moving up here if he does well for the Mets for the next couple seasons)
2. Francisco Rodriguez
3. Billy Wagner
Also in the running: Armando Benitez, Jesse Orosco, Roger McDowell, Jeff Reardon, Randy Myers, Tug McGraw
– Now that I went out on a limb.. anyone else want to try..?
Written by Evan Kanter of the Sports Fan Blog Network


